Monday, April 23, 2018

Former WSOP Circuit Main Event winner Dylan Wilkerson won a second such title last night at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina. The player emerged as the victor after a great heads-up show with runner-up finisher and poker veteran Erick Lindgren.

Wilkerson’s payday totaled $294,152. He also captured his second gold ring from the series. The player won his first gold piece last spring when he bested the field of the $1,675 Main Event at The Bicycle stop of the Circuit.

Wilkerson came into the final day of the Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event as one of the 19 survivors from the previous day. The player was seventh in chips at the beginning of Day 3 play with 1.315 million.

By the time the unofficial final table was set, the eventual champion had climbed to second in the chip counts chart. Shortly after, Wilkerson took the chip lead to mostly stay atop during the remaining stages of the tournament.

The WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee was one of the last stops on the series’ 2017/2018 calendar. Its $1,675 Main Event drew a field of 1,060 entries who created a prize pool of $1.59 million. The top 108 places got paid, min-cash starting from $2,926. The event was played over four days.

Its final stage, the heads-up between Wilkerson and Lindgren lasted nearly three hours and saw the chip lead exchange hands on several occasions.

Lengthy Heads-Up

The two-handed match began with Wilkerson holding a 4:1 lead over his final opponent. He secured his advantage after eliminating two players within a single hand. Wilkerson busted Howard Setzer and Daniel Wagner in fourth and third to collect their chips and enter heads-up with a stack that should have given him some comfort.

However, the player did not have a good start to the duel and gradually lost grip to find himself at an 8:1 disadvantage to Lindgren.

Wilkerson managed to regain momentum and to begin to gradually rebuild his stack. He evened the counts to eventually take the lead and never look back. On what turned out to be the final hand in play, Wilkerson shoved for 7.255 million pre-flop, putting himself and his fellow player at great risk. Lindgren called for his last remaining chips and tabled pocket Queens to Wilkerson’s pocket Kings. A blank board sealed it for Wilkerson and sent Lindgren to the rail for a second-place payout of $181,864.

In his post-victory interview, Wilkerson said that he felt relieved to have captured the title after the action-packed heads-up. Of him losing his good advantage at the beginning of heads-up, the player said that nothing went his way and he probably did not play that well, thus allowing his opponent to take advantage of the situation. Wilkerson was happy to have had the chance to come back and eventually win the tournament.